The present invention relates to a wireless data storage medium suitable as a commodity tag or label which is attached to a commodity, for example, in order to perform a predetermined processing on the commodity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless data storage medium, which can read or write data in a non-contact condition through radio communication.
Attention has been drawn to a wireless data storage medium as a next generation carrier, comprising a data storage element such as an IC memory or the like and a wireless transmitter-receiver section, which wirelessly communicates with an external system in order to read or write data on the data storage element for control in a non-contact condition.
Such a wireless data storage medium has been fabricated with an IC chip, and attached to a commodity as a radio tag and utilized for a shoplift preventive system or as a ski lift ticket in a skiing resort in an incorporated manner. Alternately, a new utilization has been tried in which the medium is embedded in a card and the card is to be used as a commuter card in a wirelessly processed automatic card examination system.
In the system in which a wireless data storage medium is employed, a predetermined processing can be performed in a non-contact condition without inserting the wireless data storage medium (a card or a tag) into a processing apparatus, whereby convenience which has never been available in a conventional system can be enjoyed.
A radio tag generally has no visible image display section. Such a form and a condition of the storage medium are not problematic in a system in which it is not required to show data on a commodity to which the medium is attached directly to a person or a customer as in the case of a shoplift preventive system.
In addition, various kinds of system utilizing a radio tag have been proposed. For example, if a radio tag is used for a price tag of a commodity and settlement of the account when a customer purchases commodities is processed by wirelessly reading price data stored on the tags attached to the commodities, the settlement of the account can be more efficient as compared with a current available system. However, this system requires that a purchaser can confirm a commodity price for its own.
Besides, there is a case where a radio tag is utilized in a physical distribution field, in which a radio tag is attached to a commodity and data peculiar to the commodity written on the radio tag attached thereto is read at points in the distribution system, whereby a flow of commodities can centrally be controlled by a single control system.
Furthermore, it is considered that a radio tag is utilized in production control when the radio tag is attached to a work in process. In this system, a visible display of data on the work which can be recognized by an operator in the working area or a manager is indispensable since an unforeseeable accident, such as breakage of a price tag attached to the work or communication trouble is taken care.
In order to solve such a problem, for example, a non-contact recording medium is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 4-368894, which includes a non-contact recording means, and on whose surface a visible data recording area made from a rewritable heat-reversible material is provided. In this non-contact recording medium, non-contact recording means is included therein and a recording area on which visible data is rewritable by application of heat is formed on the surface.
Besides, for example, a data recording medium is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-104189, in which an ID data is stored through transmittance and reception by an antenna with an external system, and in which a circuitry (a semiconductor section) which outputs the ID data to the external system is included, wherein a print medium, printable and erasable, is provided on the surface of the dat a recording medium and an data relating to the ID data is printed on the print medium
However, the above mentioned conventional wireless data storage media each have such a form and a condition as to be rigid or comparatively scarce in flexibility in order to protect electronic components such as a data storage element, a radio transmitter/receiver section, an antenna section and the like from breakage caused by a mechanical stress and a image display section is formed on a surface of such a rigid body.
A wireless data storage medium of such a form and a condition as this is suitable for the case where a person carries the medium, but since the wireless medium is not flexible, there has problematically been arisen various kinds of restrictions for attachment of the wireless data storage medium in the case that the wireless data storage medium is utilized as a price tag, a parcel tag, a production process control tag or the like.
In a data storage medium disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-104489, an electronic component is formed on a base material like paper and a print medium on which a visible image can repeatedly be printed is fixed thereon. For this reason, while this data storage medium is excellent in flexibility, the electronic component has a risk of breakage by a mechanical stress.